Travellers & Entrepreneurs
A Long History of Enterprise
The Ulkatcho people possessed a lengthy heritage of entrepreneurial ventures. Multiple generations of Ulkatchot’en demonstrated independent, shrewd business acumen and negotiation skills.
Beyond subsistence trapping and harvesting natural resources for trade, numerous community members operated their own trading posts. Antone Capoose, Thomas Sill, Baptiste Stillas, George Cahoose and Old Cahoose all maintained stores. These traders transported goods via packhorses to and from Bella Coola, establishing trading locations at Anahim Lake, Abuntlet Lake, Salmon River and Ulkatcho Village to serve residents.
Antone Capoose — A Real Business Man
“He was always selling something. He had a little sack on his saddlehorse full of stuff to sell.”
Capoose operated a warehouse in Bella Coola and maintained an additional store at Abuntlet Lake. He purchased furs throughout the region, transported goods by boat up the coast, and redistributed merchandise via his extensive string of forty packhorses, extending his trading network as far as T’letinqox and down the Dean River.
Henry Jack recounted Old Cahoose’s simple bartering system, where muskrats exchanged for boots at fixed rates. Mac Squinas remembered when Antone Capoose arrived at Ulkatcho Village with twenty-one packhorses laden with groceries that were rapidly purchased by winter trappers.
Ulkatcho People Were Always on the Move
Survival in the interior plateau required constant mobility. Families traveled extensively between the Fraser River, Kimsquit, Bella Coola, Chezlatta and Potato Mountain in pursuit of seasonal resources.
During the mid-1960s, Okanagan orchards recruited indigenous workers, prompting many Ulkatcho families to relocate. Later, when matsutake mushroom harvesting expanded in the late 1980s, families followed harvests across British Columbia and into the United States.
Some workers traveled to the Peace River for employment in the oil industry.
Ulkatcho Families Occupied the Whole Landscape
“Every five or six miles there would be another lake and a family would live there.”
By his birth in 1929, families maintained residences both at remote lakes and in Ulkatcho Village. His family’s village house, constructed from Ootsa Lake lumber with tongue-and-groove boards, overlooked the settlement on a hillside.
His mother, Emma Stillas Jack, maintained a personal trail for visiting Captain Harry’s wife Ochristine through the trees behind the hill. Charlie West’s mother Salhkus, Old Alexis and Captain Harry’s mother Cama also lived at Ulkatcho Village.
Obsidian Trade Networks
Long before European contact, Ulkatcho people were skilled traders who moved obsidian and other goods across vast networks connecting interior and coastal peoples. The Anahim Peak obsidian source — one of only two in BC — has been found at archaeological sites hundreds of kilometres away, evidence of extensive trade routes connecting the Ulkatcho to Nations across the province.
Modern Economic Development
Today, the Ulkatcho First Nation continues its tradition of entrepreneurship through the Ulkatcho Group of Companies and partnerships with resource industries. The Nation has signed five Alliance Agreements with industry partners, creating employment and economic opportunities for members while ensuring environmental stewardship of traditional territory.